Dealing with a poorly performing employee can be frustrating. It can be
complex and time consuming to make sure you get the right result - an
improvement in their performance, or failing that, them being managed
out of the organisation in a fair and legal way.

It is likely you will meet with a poorly performing
employee at least twice; the first time to tell them how their
performance is ineffective and set targets for improvement, and the
second to review their progress and make a decision about their future.
In practice, you may have several other steps to follow, but the
conversations will follow the same pattern, and if you master that
pattern, you will find it easier to deal with any conversation about
performance effectively.

And what is the pattern? You prepare. You talk. You
listen. You consider. You decide. You communicate your decision. In
basic terms, it is as simple as that.

Prepare

Preparation involves making sure you know company
policy and what authority you have to make decisions; you know where the
employee’s performance falls short (and you have specific examples),
you've planned how you want the meeting to go, you’ve given the employee
appropriate notice and information in accordance with company policy,
and you've identified a suitable time and venue.

Talk

Next, you talk. You may have a predetermined
structure to follow or perhaps an agenda you have drawn up, in either
case, you need to explain the reason for the meeting and what you want
to achieve - to discuss the performance issues and what needs to be done
about them. Then you give them the evidence of their performance
shortfalls.

Listen

Now you give the employee the opportunity to talk and
you need to listen. The quickest way to make sure someone doesn't engage
with you is to make them think you're ignoring what they say. And the
only way you are going to get an improvement in performance is if they
are working harder, better, or differently. You need their
participation. That said, if they refuse to make the effort, then you
can still take action. It’s not about handing over control. It’s about
managing the situation.

It may be that there are some issues that you're not
aware of. They may not have been trained to carry out that particular
task. They may have to rely on a third party which is causing the
problems. They may have a health problem that impacts on their ability.
There can be as many reasons as there are staff.

They
may also get emotional. You might face anger or distress. You can never
tell how someone will react until you're in that situation. Don’t let
this side-track you. If they become too emotional to carry on, take a
break, but always make sure you get back to the matter at hand. As a
general rule, having evidence of performance issues makes it easier to
deal with any emotional reactions since it is harder to ignore facts. It
also helps you deal with those who might use an emotional reaction as a
tactic to delay the discussion.

Consider

This leads neatly on to considering the information
you now have. No effective manager would make a business decision
without having the relevant facts or without weighing the options.
Performance management is as much a business decision as any other issue
you will face. Staff pay is often the biggest budgetary outgoing, where
even the lowest paid member of staff can cost tens of thousands over the
course of two or three years. Dealing with performance issues is a key
opportunity to ensure you get the best return on that investment.

Decide

Now you have the decision to make. You'll know from
your preparation which options are open to you: it may be a verbal or
written warning, it may be dismissal. Whatever it is, ensuring that you
have been fair and followed policy will mean your decision is more
likely to stand if the employee decides to challenge it. It would be
unfortunate to end up fighting a legal battle and losing, just for the
sake of following the process properly.

Communicate

Once you have made your decision, you need to
communicate it to the employee. This needs to be done in the most
appropriate way. Face-to-face is usually best, with written confirmation
including an action plan. This should be given to them as quickly as
possible to both capitalise on the momentum from your discussion and to
reinforce its importance. There should also be clear demarcation between
responsibilities, especially since the employee is the only one who can
improve their performance.

And how do you know if you get it right? The employee
goes away knowing what they have to do, how they have to do it, when
they need to do it by, they have no illusions about the part they have
to play, they know the support they can expect from you and the
organisation, and they understand the consequences of not meeting their
targets.

And finally, it can be uncomfortable for any manager
having to have these discussions with an employee, but if you do it in a
fair, reasonable and supportive way, you can be their biggest ally, even
if, in the end, it doesn’t work out.